Welcome to In Between

On being authentic and present

I recently received an email rejection for an essay I submitted to a small, literary publication. For a moment, I thought, “Forget it - maybe I’ll not try to be a writer.” Except I’m definitely a writer and have been for over 40 years.

Trying not to be a writer would mean giving up:

• daily journaling

• impromptu nature poems on my notes app

• personal essays (sometimes shared with others; sometimes not)

• the 500 words (whether meaningful or random) I type into a google doc most days

• book reviews

All are important (some essential) to me. I’ll continue to be a writer. One of the ways I’ll do that is through this newsletter. A new format, a new challenge, a new way to share my writing. I’ve been thinking about it for several months. My blog is mostly defunct. Social media is chaotic, and I’d prefer to spend less time there. Substack is a way to bring my writing directly to those who might want to read it.

And who might want to read it? Anyone interested in the “In Between.” Most of life is lived in between, which was the theme of a poem I wrote over five years ago. Inspired by the beauty of a leaf encased in ice. A lesson from nature on appreciating the moments in between.

Some excerpts:

but the leaves and ice
the overlapping beauty
of autumn and winter
remind me
the spaces in between
can be beautiful
if I can just wait

and see the beauty
in between
one holiday and the next
one season and the next
one year and the next
one stage of life and the next

I could for a moment
stop thinking about
what comes next
I could be quiet
look and listen
appreciate life's
random designs
the series of events
and circumstances
some of them controllable
most of them not at all

and let go
waiting
appreciating
in-between

*****

The last few years have been full of uncertainty because of a global pandemic and other upheavals in our world. There are always changes and transitions - births and deaths, coming together and moving apart, growing up and growing old, gains and losses, adventures and accidents, health and illness, and all the things in between.

Pema Chodron wrote: “We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

*****

I hope you’ll subscribe to my weekly newsletter and join me as I contemplate and write about living authentically and fully through grief, relief, misery, joy. The magical moments and the messy ones. All of it. And everything in between.

With gratitude,

Mary

P.S. There’s a whole lot that I don’t know about this platform. I could research and plan and think about that for ages. Instead, I’ll start.